SPDX License List

The SPDX License List is a list of commonly found licenses and exceptions used for open source and other collaborative software. The purpose of the SPDX License List is to enable easy and efficient identification of such licenses and exceptions in an SPDX document (or elsewhere). The SPDX License List includes a standardized short identifier, full name for each license, vetted license text, other basic information, and a canonical permanent URL for each license and exception. By providing a short identifier, users can efficiently refer to a license without having to redundantly reproduce the full license. License exceptions can be used with the License Expression Syntax operator, "WITH" to create a license with an exception.

Master Files: The HTML pages you see here are generated from the master files for the SPDX License List. The master files include a spreadsheet listing all the licenses, deprecated licenses, and license exceptions; and the text for each license in a .txt file. These files are available in a Git repository.

Overview: For general information about the SPDX License List, including principles for inclusion of a license and an explanation of the fields contained on the list.

Matching Guidelines: Guidelines for what constitutes a license match to the SPDX License List. For licenses that include markup, the license text on the HTML pages here will display omitable text in blue and replaceable text in red (see Guideline #2 for more information).

Request New License: For instructions on how to propose additional licenses or license exceptions be added to the SPDX License List.

Deprecated Licenses

Release 2.0 of the SPDX Specification introduces License Expression Syntax that supports the ability to identify common variations of SPDX-identified licenses without the need to define each potential variation as a distinct license on the SPDX License List. This new syntax supports the ability to use a simple “+” operator after a license short identifier to indicate “or later version” (e.g. GPL-2.0+). It also supports the ability to declare an SPDX-identified license exception using the “WITH” operator (e.g. GPL-2.0+ WITH Autoconf-exception-2.0). SPDX has defined a list of license exceptions to use after the “WITH” operator. As a result, a number of licenses formerly included in the SPDX License List have been deprecated as licenses, and correct usage employs the License Expression Syntax as of v2.0. The URL to each deprecated license still exists and those license pages have been updated to note the deprecation. Other licenses may have been deprecated for reasons noted.